NEW YORK – They weren't exposed to anywhere near the same level of ash, grit and fumes.

But some emergency workers who responded to the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside on 9/11 are signing up for the same compensation and health care benefits being offered to New Yorkers who got sick after toiling in the dust of the World Trade Center.

Federal officials say at least 91 people from the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania sites have applied for payment from a multibillion-dollar fund for people with an illness related to the attacks.

There's little medical evidence that those responders were exposed to unusual environmental hazards or are getting sick in large numbers, but officials are urging some responders to enroll as a precaution.